Lucy Thorne

Lucy Thorne (8 August 1837-1868) was a British tea merchant who was from a family of minor nobles.

Biography
Lucy Thorne was born middle-class in London. Her father was a successful but stuffy tea merchant. Her mother was well-educated and the daughter of a minor noble house - she liked the good things in life, and grew up among relative luxury; however, increasing family debt would become a problem in her adulthood. Lucy was clever and quick as a child. Her mother educated her in all of the qualities that should have ensured her a successful marriage, but Lucy decided instead to immerse herself in books. She branched out into the study of obscure religious knowledge, into magic and occult philosophy. In Lucy's teens, her father struggled to run his business and pay for his family's needs. Lucy's home life went downhill quickly as less money came in and more went to pay debts. She was encouraged to find a husband who could provide for her. Instead, she took on work as a shop girl in her father's business, gradually taking on more of the management.

In her spare time she grew more and more taken with occult philosophy and supposedly magical objects, such as the Shroud of Turin. She collected rare manuscripts, overspending on auctions of rare papers. When she outbid Crawford Starrick at an auction, he tracked her down and attempted to buy the papers. Lucy wouldn't sell, but her enthusiasm for the topic appealed to Starrick, and he quickly introduced her to the Templar Order, where she became his second-in-command.